Nigeria’s first quarter GDP growth shrinks by -0.52%

The National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday released the Gross Domestic Product growth rate report for the first quarter with the economy contracting by -0.52 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

With the economy having a negative growth rate of -0.52 per cent, the economy is still in recession.

The rate of growth for the first quarter of 2017 is, however, an improvement over the revised -1.73 per cent GDP growth rate figure recording as of December 2016.

This is the fifth consecutive contraction in GDP growth rate that the economy would be recording since the first quarter of 2016.

The NBS report reads in part, “In the first quarter of 2017, the nation’s GDP contracted by -052 per cent (year on year) in real terms, representing the fifth consecutive quarter of contraction since Q1 2016.

“This is higher than the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2016 and higher by 1.21 percentage points from rate recorded in the preceding quarter.”

However, the rate of growth is against expectations by the Federal Government that the country would be out of recession in weeks.Punch